It has been the typical practice to dispense oxygen to a patient in a continuous flow to a mask or a cannula. However, only the oxygen delivered during the patient's inhalation cycle is actually used by the patient. The oxygen delivered during the exhalation cycle of breathing is wasted. This can result in a loss of more than half of the oxygen which is provided to a patient. As a result of this waste there is considerable additional expense in the providing of such an oxygen supply.
Various control devices have been suggested for regulating control of the supply of oxygen provided to a patient to reduce this waste. Such a control device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,278,110. Such devices have not proven fully satisfactory. Problems of such devices include a slow response time which can adversely affect the patient's breathing pattern and excessive bleed flow rates which can waste a substantial quantity of oxygen.
Additional applications are available for such an oxygen regulating valve provided the valve can be used outside the carefully controlled environment of a hospital. Such other applications include fire fighters, scuba divers, pilots and athletes. Prior art devices, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,278,110 cannot be used in adverse environments due to orientation limitations.
In view of the above problems and the need for conserving oxygen supplies, there exists a requirement for an oxygen conservation valve which can rapidly respond to demand, reduce waste of oxygen to a minimum and function in environments outside of a hospital.